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Cash Card for Mothers

July 12, 2009

I finally got my own KB Star cash card.

This cash card is specifically for pregnant women. During one of my visits, the Obstetrics & Gynecology clinic where I go to handed to me a form authorizing me to apply for this particular cash card from KB Star. At first, I thought this was just another cash card with some discount perks from selected establishments. This mother’s card (“omma card” as they call it here, sorry no Korean characters in my computer) turned out to be more than that.

This “Omma Card” is exclusive to expectant moms. The Korean Government, as long as you are a legal resident here in Korea, subsidizes prenatal care expenses of up to 200,000-won. Until your delivery date, you can use this cash card in paying your prenatal fees. Each transaction though has a daily limit of 40,000-won. For example, if your bill is 70,000-won, you may just pay 30,000-won using your KBStar cash card. You may use this card and avail of the government subsidy until you have consumed the maximum of 200,000-won.

It would take a number of days for the processing of the “Omma Card” since the bank needs to submit the account holder’s details to the Korean Government agency which handles these matters. You may choose to have the card delivered or you can pick it up from the branch where you opened this account. Personally picking it up would definitely have a shorter waiting period than having the card delivered. I chose to pick it up since we have a Kookmin Bank branch just beside our building.

Of course, this “Omma Card” is not exclusively for your prenatal use. You could use this card almost anywhere (as long as you have cash available in the account) and a few establishment offers discounts. This is just especially called as an “Omma Card” because of its particular benefit for pregnant women.

just recently, there was a student accused of stealing cash from one of his classmates. he didnt use the money though, he either scattered it or gave it away to his other classmates… Iljimae in the making? haha…